Open Source Hardware, For Fun and For Profit 122
ptorrone writes "Lots of open source hardware articles making the rounds this week, first up — Wired has an excellent piece on the Arduino project, an open source electronics prototyping platform, its founders and business model (they have sold over 50,000 units). And next up MIT's Tech Review has a profile on a few open source hardware businesses including NYC based Adafruit Industries best known for projects like the open source synth (x0x0b0x) and 'fun' projects like the Wave Bubble, the open source cell phone/wifi/GPS/RF jammer."
Links (Score:5, Informative)
I felt these links should be in this thread:
OPENCORES.ORG [opencores.org]
Open Hardware [openhardware.de]
OpenSPARC [opensparc.net]
The Wikipedia article on Open-Source Hardware, with many more links [wikipedia.org]
Don't forget Arduino! (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget the Arduino official homepage [arduino.cc].
It's simple, very hackable, Mac- and Linux-compatible and it's a true free/open source design, so they don't have a monopoly on it and you can buy compatible boards from other sources or DIY!
Re:Links (Score:3, Informative)
Also:
FreePCB, http://www.freepcb.com/ [freepcb.com]
Why use Eagle, its not free?
Sparkfun has Eagle footprints for their parts incl Arduino, BUT those footprints are copyrighted by Sparkfun AND they clearly spell out that they are not for use with any commercial products. WTF?
So I used FreePCB. It worked just fine, made very nice Gerber files which I sent here, http://www.eiconnect.com/ [eiconnect.com] in Illinois. Fine PCBs made by Americans.
Re:Handy for terrorism, kidnapping, piracy, etc. (Score:3, Informative)
>>>The next time I grab a 15-year-old girl to rape and kill her....... I'm all for freedom of speech, but could we exercise a little self-control over what we say and publish?
>>>
Well if that girl were carrying a gun, it wouldn't matter if you jammed her cellphone. She'd be teaching you a lesson about the God-given right to self-defense of her body, as she blasts a hole through your chest.
Rapists don't deserve to live, and it is because of the existence of rapists/thieves/et cetera that human beings need to be able to defend themselves. I once defended my girlfriend against a similar creep in Philadelphia. She'd probably be dead today if I had not aimed my gun at his head. I never seen anybody run so fast.
Cellphones are a joke. By the time the police show-up, you're already raped. Better to be packing heat.
Re:Mico32 (Score:2, Informative)
My implementation is merely targeted for VLIW processor research; it is a highly customizable design where the instruction issue-width, the number of registers and the number of functional units can be easily changed. Even custom instructions are supported (as well in the compiler toolchain).
Another Link (Score:4, Informative)
Cheers,
Dave
Arduino EAGLE/Gerber files and name are NOT free (Score:4, Informative)
and it's a true free/open source design, so they don't have a monopoly on it and you can buy compatible boards from other sources or DIY!
Actually, it's not an open-source design; Arduino is an actively protected trademark and they do control who manufactures it, because they won't release the files necessary to manufacture the circuit board. Without them, you cannot (easily) make a compatible board; you have to reverse-engineer it. Which is precisely what some people, fed up with not being able to make their own Arduino boards, went and did.
Freeduino [freeduino.org], *is* actually free and open-source (and compatible) and they have specifically said that people are welcome to use the Freeduino name.
All Arduino proves is that people will slap "free" and "open source" on just about anything, and there's no shortage of people who will parrot it.
Also, I'm getting really fucking tired of LadyAda's antisocial, illegal devices. Her "TV-b-gone" redefines arrogance, and the jammers are *completely* illegal (funny how you all will get ripshit about data-over-powerlines interfering with your precious HAM hobby, but this device is completely ok?) Wouldn't be the first time she's gotten in trouble with 'the law'- when she was at MIT, she put a device in a parking garage which MIT campus police (used to dealing with all sorts of weird projects and devices) treated as a bomb, and she was punished by the dean for it.
Re:Funny, it worked for the Soviets. (Score:3, Informative)
Funny, it worked for the Soviets
... and something like fifty million people died.
Funny, it worked for the Nazis too. And the Cambodians. And a number of other dictatorships.
Over one hundred million people died in the 20th Century alone because of gun control.
Sorry, but it's NOT funny.
Re:Arduino EAGLE/Gerber files and name are NOT fre (Score:5, Informative)
hey superbanana - i'm phil from MAKE i submitted the story and what you're saying is not accurate. i'll do my best to address your comments.
1. Arduinio is open source, anyone can make them and they released all the files. just check the site you'll see all the downloads, if you can't find them email me.
2. the *name* is trademarked, this is likely the confusion. you can make Arduino clones all you want in china, you just can't call them Arduino. just like you can make other versions of Firefox but you can't call yours Firefox.
3. as far as ladyada goes, the art project you're referring to at MIT never got her punished or "in trouble with the law".
4. lastly, the tv-b-gone is also used to turn TVs on, that's how it works.